More Than a Game - Leroy Keyes

[Music] growing up in the south was unique uh you had to understand the limits that were put on you there was no opportunity in the south to even think about going to a school below the mason dixie line when i saw the name purdue being from the south again you had to understand you know when people in the south said purdue they spelled it p-e-r-d-u-e and i said no that's the name of chicken farm so that's not where i'm going i'm going to p-u-r-d-u-e uh university out in west lafayette indiana and when you talk to people in the south half of us had never gone out of the state and now you're talking about you're going to go to west lafayette where is west lafayette indiana once i talked to bernie miller my recruiting coordinator he said leroy just just come out here and be yourself and enjoy the game play it the best you can and uh let let the skill level fall where it may wherever it may fall it was magnificent just being on campus the coaching staff the people who made the dorm life enjoyable and the pleasure uh going into the different buildings for academics but once you came into lambert field house and suited it up and walked down to the gridiron to the stadium or to the practice field it was nothing like it [Music] coming out of virginia was a little different but yet i was accepted respected and loved by the fan the media and it was just a fantastic opportunity just to showcase my god-given talent i look back at uh some of purdue greats who i kind of wanted to just meet uh before i put on my head when i put on my uniform and when i think about lenny dawson and ross feedner and lamar lundy and erich bond and harold wells and some of the guys who laid the foundation i said i want to be a part of this and purdue's sophomore sensation leroy keys gathers in the ball on his own four yard line and he spins his way out the rose bowl experience was like none other it was like wow we're gonna go to pasadena and represent purdue university the only team from west lafayette indiana to ever go to the rose bowl the first jubilation uh ecstatic uh feelings of wow we we are doing something that no other boilermaker team has ever done to purdue's 1966 football team came a thrill that usually happens once in a lifetime just being in california seeing the mountains seeing the ocean stepping your foot into the pacific ocean that was a dream come true for me a young man from the segregated south all of a sudden now goes to purdue does well and now you're rewarded you're going to go to the granddaddy of mall the rose bowl we just want to be a part of this uh forevermore we want to etch our name into the forklore of what the rose bowl is all about purdue university showed up they showed out and they won before the boilermakers saving the day for purdue the purdue fans giving back to purdue university is almost like uh giving to your children if you got it you give it you know and the bottom line is i cannot see giving to anyone else but purdue university because purdue university is where i learned about people that people are good natured the only way we can leave a legacy that is recognizable is by giving back so that lake's student the next student athlete can feel that this is the right thing to do it's not going to make or break me but the bottom line is going to make another student appreciate that someone else might have given their last dollar their last dime their last hundred thousand their last million so that i can become a boilermaker and do the same thing as i passed through my decade or through my years at purdue university and that's that's all it's about it's about love for your university love for your fellow boilermaker and understanding that we have nothing to hide we love helping one another you

Channel: John Purdue Club

Views: 3,282

Rating: 5 out of 5

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Id: wggVNoJokJs

Length: 4min 58sec (298 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 24 2020